When The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con to showcase season three, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay and several cast members shared a first teaser and talked about the new additions to the ensemble, including Jamie Campbell Bower as Galadriel’s long-lost husband, Celeborn.
The team also teased more about what’s in store when the J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation returns in November, including details on what’s happened since we last saw Middle-earth in season two. Five years have passed, Payne explained. “Sauron has been spreading his armies all across Middle-earth, and this is really the season we’ve been building to. There’s only a few pockets of resistance that are able to keep him at bay. You’ve got the Elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell that are protected by the power of the Three Rings, then you’ve got the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm that has so far been neutral in the war.” “But Sauron has a plan to turn the tide. He made nine rings for men last season, and now he’s giving them out,” continued Payne. “He’s getting allies from north, south, west, and, importantly, the east. He’s trying to recruit a massive, massive army from the lands of Rhûn to come in and tip the scales in the war. But his real plan, the big plan that brings everything together, [the] one for which all roads lead to Sauron this season, is he’s gonna forge the One Ring to rule them all.”
